My name is Barbara, I’m 36 years old and I’m quadriplegic since 1987, when, following a fall from my swing, I suffered a cervical spinal cord injury that has affected me the full use of my arms and legs. I consider myself a “Cure Girl” because I wish with all my heart that a cure will be found soon for all types of spinal cord injury and for all levels. In particular, for all those injuries that cause the total and/or partial loss of autonomy in taking care of themselves.

The severity of my injury and its high level (C4-C5) resulted in a condition of dependence to perform the actions necessary to daily life, causing great inconvenience not only to me. Being dependent on others is one of the worst things that a human being can experience. All this is aggravated by the fact that, in most cases, family has to take the whole load of assistance. Therefore, only permanent cure to recover at least all those movements that allow complete autonomy is the only way to change things; every other remedy is only a palliative.

The focus on medical research to cure spinal cord injuries is very lacking, especially in Italy, and this is because there is a very little information on the consequences which this type of trauma involves… as if paralysis itself is not enough to require the need of a cure!

Thanks to Internet we can spread our voice and let everyone know what is actually a spinal injury, so everyone will realize how important it is to always keep the spotlight on medical research, as it occurs with many other disabilities.

“Happiness is… feel the hair through your fingers… take a child in your arms… clapping at a concert… hold in your hands a cup of hot milk… walking barefoot on wet sand…

A good news for Chronic Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) cure is coming from Stem Cells Inc.

“StemCells, Inc.(Nasdaq:STEM) today announced that the twelve month data from the first patient cohort in the Company’s Phase I/II clinical trial of its proprietary HuCNS-SC® product candidate (purified human neural stem cells) for chronic spinal cord injury continued to demonstrate a favorable safety profile, and showed that the considerable gains in sensory function observed in two of the three patients at the six-month assessment have persisted.”(1)

This is a first step but it is showing all of us that our dreams for a cure may become a reality!

“While we need to be cautious when interpreting data from a small, uncontrolled trial, to our knowledge, this is the first time a patient with a complete spinal cord injury has been converted to a patient with an incomplete injury following transplantation of neural stem cells. We are encouraged that the cells appear to convey clinical benefit in such severely injured patients.” (2)

As we can see, a cure is possible and that is why we, Cure Girls, are strongly fighting for it!

Google Trend says Google users searched for “spinal cord injury” more than ever before or after in October 2004 when Superman, Christopher Reeve, passed away due to complications from his high cervical spinal cord injury.

“It then was in October 2004 that our movement lost its most recognizable face, and our most passionate advocate for a cure. Since then, as technical traders say about a stock chart, the trend is from the “upper left to the lower right. People are searching less and less for the term “spinal cord injury”.”

This is something of a worry. And something that brings a great sadness to me and many others I’m sure. How many of us are in this world who before 2004 and since then have suffered a spinal cord injury and who are searching for a cure, hoping that soon we’ll see a way to have us all back on our feet again.

This trend is bad for all of us. We need to get out there and raise awareness that spinal cord injury doesn’t mean an end to your life. But it also doesn’t mean that you loose hope for a cure. One day this will happen and if we all keep spreading the word, talking to as many people who will listen about our cause then one day this will come.

Just a month before my own accident Christopher Reeve also had a riding accident which left him with considerably more paralysis. But he didn’t give up. He and his wife spent their life time trying to raise money for spinal research. The cure unfortunately didn’t come soon enough for Christopher but we all need to continue to support research and find the cure for Chronic Spinal Cord Injury.

Being Cure Girls we are trying to spread awareness and show people all over the world that a cure for Chronic Spinal Cord Injury is still something vitally important. This is something we all believe in and we know will one day become reality, if we just keep on fighting. Never giving up.

Therefore when people do searches now, it should trend up and up and up to the right. Because the Cure Girls are now raising awareness and raising funds for spinal research, this is not the end, it’s the beginning. This is something new, but it is something we are building on.